Watson, Mason spar over who's the better jobs candidate in Virginia's 93rd House District

Watson emphasizes experience while Mason slams him on social issue votes

October 14, 2013|By Ryan Murphy, rmurphy@dailypress.com

The race for Virginia's 93rd House District is shaping as "who's the better businessman" as Republican Del. Mike Watson, who is finishing his first term in the General Assembly, faces off with Democratic challenger Monty Mason.

Watson has made his campaign all about jobs and emphasizes his efforts during his time in Richmond pushing pro-business legislation. His efforts have earned him commendations from business groups as a leading pro-business member of the General Assembly.

Mason, who works at Visa in fraud prevention, portrays himself as a business advocate on par with Watson while also highlighting Watson's votes on ideologically charged topics like abortion and voting rights.

Both candidates have received substantial attention and funding from their parties, suggesting that the parties believe the race is one of the most competitive General Assembly races of this year.

The candidates

Watson was elected to the General Assembly in 2011. A Virginia native and graduate of New River Community College in Dublin, Va., Watson has run his own business for 25 years. He lives with his wife, Amy, in James City County and has three sons, ages 22, 17 and 14.

Watson has been lauded by business groups, receiving stamps of approval from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and other groups. He's a member of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization and has advocated for widening I-64 after voting for the bipartisan transportation bill that will raise revenue for improvements to Virginia's highways.

Mason, also a native Virginian, is a graduate of the College of William and Mary. He works with Visa, and lives in Williamsburg with his wife, Pamela, and daughters, 5 and 3. Mason is the chairman of the Williamsburg Economic Development Authority and is on the board of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance.

Watson has made his emphasis jobs and business development, touting his approvals from business groups, his entrepreneurial background and his co-founding of the General Assembly's Business Development Caucus. He portrays himself as the pro-business jobs candidate, often calling economic development a solution or partial solution for many non-business issues.

"The absolute best social bill I can pass is a (jobs bill). Because if you look anywhere in the state or anywhere in the nation where you've got the highest crime rate, highest drug use, highest alcohol, highest violence … it's also the area with the highest level of unemployment," he said.

"It's not the answer to everything, but it will improve virtually everything that we're challenged with in the state and in the nation."

Mason has argued that he is as strong a jobs candidate as Watson, but without the ideological baggage.

"I refuse to cede the business ground in this or any other race.… How come Republicans are good for business and Democrats aren't? It doesn't make sense. I think I'm very strong there," he said.

He accuses his opponent of voting to ban abortions and common forms of birth control through votes in favor of bills like the so-called "personhood bill," which would have conferred legal rights to fetuses from the moment of conception.

Mason said he decided to run because he believes the House of Delegate has swung wildly to the political right in what he says is a "moderate to moderate-conservative" state. He says the House is in need of some balance and Watson is part of the problem.

He has said the freshman delegate is in lockstep with the far right on every ideologically conservative issue. He says the 93rd is more moderate than its representation indicates.

Watson tries to distance himself from his votes on what he called "social lightning rod bills" — things like the personhood bill, the ultrasound bill and stricter voter ID laws. His argument for his yea votes on these bills is that he has not sponsored any of these bills.

Here's a look at where the candidates stand on other issues:

Medicaid expansion

Watson says the current system needs significant efficiency and quality improvements before it can be expanded to cover 400,000 new participants, as called for in the Affordable Care Act. He points to economic development as a way to lighten the load of the program. "As we work to implement reforms, I will continue my efforts to expand economic growth and career opportunities to reduce the number of uninsured citizens and relieve the Medicaid system of some burden."

Mason said he supports the Medicaid expansion and says the infusion of billions of federal dollars will create "tens of thousands of high-paying jobs" as more physicians and other medical personnel will have to be hired. He says Virginia is already paying into the federal system and the expansion is only a matter of returning that money to the state. "Not expanding Medicaid is an ideological decision only.... It's not about liking the law, it's about getting our fair share," he said.